Great Film overall

Absolutely Fantastic

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Obviously shot in haste, but given a bit of class in the earlier eps by the use of vast amounts of stock footage, including snips from the previous serials. Mind you, the stock material is often rather clumsily inserted - not that mismatched cuts and out-of-place establishing shots are anything unusual in this serial. Still some of the old footage is quite impressive. Chapter 3 with its copious action from Universal's own 1930 release White Hell of Pitz Palu is my favorite. This ep concludes with Ming's wonderfully conceived mechanical men, the annihilators, on the rampage, though the actual cliffhanger is weak.Throughout the serial, the editors use optical wipes to maintain interest. One of the best eps for a startling array of wipes is 6. In fact this is a fun chapter all around, with some of the hokiest and most ridiculous dialogue, delivered with perfectly straight faces by players who should have known (but don't) how to gently send it up. The only actor who gives this vein a welcome try is Earl Dwire as a maniacally sadistic scientist, but he is killed off in an early chapter. One of the script's more inspired creations are the Rock Men who make their initial appearance in chapter 7. These eps gain further appeal by lensing on visually exciting natural locations. Alas, after we bid farewell to the Rock Men early in chapter 9 we have only the lessening joys of the burning metal, the flooded tunnel and the plunge off the castle rampart to sustain us until the serial comes to a somewhat disappointing end. There is no final fight between Flash and Ming, the emperor being disposed of by a wayward rocket ship.The writers don't mind repeating some of their action ideas from time to time, and of course we do see those same shots of the miniature space ships in flight, taking off and landing in exactly the same locations endlessly. I don't know whose bright idea it was to dress the hero's allies in Robin Hood outfits. Just another campy incongruity - though it does provide Miss Hughes, an otherwise somewhat colorless heroine, with a pleasing change of costume. Anne Gwynne displays a bit more spirit as the villainess. But acting, as said before, is not this serial's strong point. Even the hero is so bland he could often be invisible for all we in the audience care. And as for Ming, the so-called Merciless, he needs a reasonable alternative to Don Rowan's thick-headed Captain Torch (not even a colonel, mind you) as his chief henchman if he is to have the remotest chance of success. Perhaps Ming the Moron would be a more apt title. Never has a dastardly ruler been surrounded by more turncoats and incompetents.Direction and other credits rarely rise above the capable - and often stabilize at a lesser level - but we love the corny music score.

I love and have a great affinity for serials from the golden age of cinema, and this was definitely one of the better ones I have seen. Previously, I had really enjoyed Buster Crabbe's presence in the post-Weissmuller era of Tarzan, and I have had the DVD of Hodges' 1980 'Flash Gordon' for eons, but wanted to first get to the root of the phenomenon by checking out the serials. Fortunately, in purchasing a 50-film pack, 'Nightmare Worlds' from Mill Creek, it was included.The 12 episodes of the 220-minute serial were well-edited into the fine flow that this version I saw had, and the special effects and production values were quite decent--you could tell it had been made both by a high-quality studio, in Universal, and by directors quite used to the serial format, in Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor.There are some goofs (for example, when Ming's henchmen are looking at a mountainside for the four protagonists, and five are shown), but it's action-packed, with interestingly stylized wipe-edits, and I can see how it later influenced the likes of both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.As well, it's very interesting how the filmmakers were subtly able to use the film to offer social commentary to the growing Nazi/Fascist movements worldwide that were wreaking havoc across the globe in the Axis of Evil. Heartily recommended to anyone who enjoys the fun side of cinema.

This was by far the weakest of the three Flash Gordon serials. It's too long and the action slows down considerably. With that said, there are many good moments throughout. This time, we get a brunette Dale and some nice scenes in Frigia, the snow kingdom.Each episode features a title crawl, recapping events from the previous episode. The idea was so good it was "borrowed" for a later sci-fi series by some guy named Lucas.The whole Purple Death thing is pretty hokey and the villains don't quite rise to the occasion, but Queen Fria is a nice addition.Personally, I would look for the feature version of this one and skip the serial. Otherwise, get your fast-forward button ready for the slow parts.

I'm sure that even when this came out a lot of the stuff in this serial seemed pretty silly. But if you watch it, especially if you watch it as it was meant to be watched, one chapter at a time with a break in between, you'll probably find yourself getting into the cliff hangers, and occasionally dazzled by the occasionally sumptuous production values (huge pile of writhing dancing girls, snow mountain photography) and the sometimes ingenious special effects (those mud men always make me jump).The rest of the time, sit back & laugh.They must have known that they were stretching the premise when they made this, the third and last Flash Gordon serial, but the plot pretty much hangs together if you choose to pay attention to it (which can be hard, a lot of explanations are pretty rushed), and the performances are mostly good.